Directions: On Monday, Dec. 2, come to class prepared to show your online portfolio on our classroom computer/projection screen. On your own “new wiki,” you should have your “home page” portfolio introduction completed and at least one of your “Top Ten” papers on the sidebar. If you would like help from me, choose one of the dates/times below to come to my office in EH 257. You can text me to check on which of the times below is still available or to make changes: 801-349-5418. We will not have class this Wednesday, Nov. 27. Scroll below the appointment dates for reminders about how to complete your wiki or word portfolio.
APPOINTMENT TIMES TO CHOOSE FROM:
Monday, Nov. 25
9:00 am
9:15
9:30
9:45
10:00
10:15
11:00
11:15
1:45 pm
2:00
2:15
3:00 or after:
Tuesday, Nov. 26
9:00 am
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
2:00 pm or after:
Wednesday, Nov. 27
9:00 am
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
1:45 pm
2:00
12:00 pm
3:30 or after:
SEMESTER ASSIGNMENTS, FINAL ONLINE PORTFOLIO, & GRADING CRITERIA:
1) You will attend class and complete in-class and wikispaces writing practices and posts or emails each week (1/3 of your grade)
2) Complete two 2-3 page argumentative essays by the following Fridays: Oct. 4th and Nov. 1st. Your third paper should be 5-7 pages and the FIRST draft will be due on the Monday after Thanksgiving Break. You can show it to me at anytime if you would like input from me about the research topic or correct MLA form. Place the FINAL draft of this paper in your final online portfolio. It should include at least three sources using MLA style with in-text citations matched to a Works Cited section (1/3 of your grade).
3) Organize an online portfolio of the best work you do throughout the semester by Thursday, Dec. 12 (1/3 of your grade). Begin creating your own wikispace and placing your top ten papers in it. For each paper, write a brief *PREFACE, introducing the paper, describing why you chose the topic or how you decided to write about it. You have been working on drafts of these papers all semester. Make sure you compete the final draft editing for each one, fluently presenting your writing style and grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation. On the home page, include your name, the name of the course, and an introduction which describes your portfolio and gives a short bio about yourself and your writing interests/style.
"Top Ten" Papers: Your three required longer papers: two 2-page essays and your third paper: 5-7 pages. Also, five short essays based on any work we've done all semester (e.g. the technology paper, I have a dream, summary/response papers, etc.). Finally, your choice of any two papers you've done during your writing career or from other classes. Of course, choose good ones! They can be anything from poetry to research papers.
*For sample PREFACES and portfolio papers, see the sidebar page: "A Preface."
SYLLABUS
English 2010 Writing, International Section
Dr. Tim Conrad
tconrad@weber.edu
801-349-5418
Elizabeth Hall 257
Office Hours: M/W/F, 11:30-12:30 pm, or by appointment. If my office hours don't work for your time schedule, make an appointment with me so we can meet at a different day/time. You can see me in class, email me, text my cell phone, or send me a Wiki message.
COURSE DESCRIPTION & GOALS: In this course, you will develop your writing skills to meet your personal, career, and academic needs and goals. We will focus on the following four learning objectives: 1) language fluency, 2) forms of discourse, 3) technology for writing, and 4) critical thinking (argumentation/research-writing).
WRITING ACTIVITIES & ASSESSMENT: During the first week of class, we will begin the process of brainstorming writing activities we will use to meet the four learning objectives and practice assessing how you're doing on each activity/objective according to the ACTFL writing scale. The acronym ACTFL stands for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. This organization has developed learning scales for listening, speaking, reading, and writing focusing on the abilities you already have in your second, third, or foreign language and your progress as you develop additional abilities. We will be focusing on the ACTFL writing scale so that you can keep track of your own ongoing learning as you work on your personal, career, and academic needs and goals. In addition, in order to complete this course successfully, Weber State University requires regular classroom attendance and at least two hours of study outside class for every hour inside class. In our case, that would mean that in addition to our weekly THREE hours of classroom time, you will also be studying an additional SIX hours outside class. Peer interaction and study is actively encouraged for this course. Pair up with a friend or make a new friend. Feel free to get together as a group to work on all of the assignments both during classtime or outside class. It has become increasingly important to learn how to work together with friends and colleagues collaboratively both in face-to-face interaction and through online/digital tools.
TEXTBOOK: Weber Writes, 2013: This is a book of excellent WSU student essays, edited by two WSU professors: Sylvia Newman and Scott Rogers.
LATE WORK: If you happen to be late completing an assignment, make sure that you complete it within two class days of the original deadline. For example, if you did not complete an assignment on Friday, then you would need to get it in by Wednesday of the following week. After that, late work will not be accepted and the assignment will receive zero points. Attendance will affect your grade in the following way. We will meet a total of 42 class days. If you have unexcused absences for FOUR days, your attendance percentage will be 90%, resulting in a final A- grade (even if all your other course work is at 100%), for SEVEN days, your attendance percentage will be 83% for a final B grade, and so on.
OTHER UNIVERSITY COURSE/STUDENT REQUIREMENTS & RESOURCES:
*Academic Dishonesty: Cheating and plagiarism violate the Student Code. Plagiarism is “the unacknowledged (uncited) use of any other person’s or group’s ideas or work.” Students found guilty of cheating or plagiarism are subject to failure of a specific assignment, or, in more serious cases, failure of the entire course. WSU subscribes to Turnitin, an electronic service that verifies the originality of student work. Enrollment in this course may require you to submit some or all of your assignments to it this semester, and documents submitted to Turnitin.com are retained, anonymously, in their databases. Continued enrollment in this course constitutes an understanding of and agreement with this policy. Plagiarism is a violation of the WSU Student Code and is not acceptable in this course (IV.D.2.b). If your writing appears plagiarized, or if sources are not documented properly, you may receive an E on the assignment. If repeated offenses occur, you will receive a failing grade for the class and the WSU Due Process Officer may be notified.
*Core Beliefs: According to PPM 6-22 IV, students are to “[d]etermine, before the last day to drop courses without penalty, when course requirements conflict with a student's core beliefs. If there is such a conflict, the student should consider dropping the class. A student who finds this solution impracticable may request a resolution from the instructor. This policy does not oblige the instructor to grant the request, except in those cases when a denial would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal. This request must be made to the instructor in writing and the student must deliver a copy of the request to the office of the department head. The student's request must articulate the burden the requirement would place on the student's beliefs.”]]*Core Beliefs: According to PPM 6-22 IV, students are to “[d]etermine, before the last day to drop courses without penalty, when course requirements conflict with a student's core beliefs. If there is such a conflict, the student should consider dropping the class. A student who finds this solution impracticable may request a resolution from the instructor. This policy does not oblige the instructor to grant the request, except in those cases when a denial would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal. This request must be made to the instructor in writing and the student must deliver a copy of the request to the office of the department head. The student's request must articulate the burden the requirement would place on the student's beliefs.”
Disability Accommodation: PPM 3-34 notes: “When students seek accommodation in a regularly scheduled course, they have the responsibility to make such requests at the Center for Students with Disabilities before the beginning of the quarter [semester] in which the accommodation is being requested. When a student fails to make such arrangements, interim accommodations can be made by the instructor, pending the determination of the request for a permanent accommodation.”]]*Disability Accommodation: PPM 3-34 notes: “When students seek accommodation in a regularly scheduled course, they have the responsibility to make such requests at the Center for Students with Disabilities before the beginning of the quarter [semester] in which the accommodation is being requested. When a student fails to make such arrangements, interim accommodations can be made by the instructor, pending the determination of the request for a permanent accommodation.”
*Emergency Closure:
If for any reason the university is forced to close for an extended period of time, we will conduct our class via this Wiki Page: writingtc.wikispaces.com. Look for announcements through the class website and your Weber email account.
PAST ANNOUNCEMENTS:
ANNOUNCEMENT: You can still post your FIRST DRAFT of your argumentative paper LATE, but do so right away. The first draft will be worth 25% of your grade (due last Friday), the FINAL DRAFT is 75% (due Friday, Oct. 4). Remember that you need to argue an issue or problem about your topic, including multiple points of view, and ending with your own conclusion based on your supporting reasons, examples, experiences, facts, etc. The final draft should be carefully edited, 2-3 pages, double-spaced. Look at the directions for writing this paper on the sidebar page called "First Argumentative Paper."
NOTE: IDEAS FOR TOPICS: MANY OF YOU HAVE SUBMITTED YOUR FIRST DRAFT TOPICS. HERE ARE SOME OF THE IDEAS YOUR CLASSMATES ARE RESEARCHING AND WRITING ABOUT:
AIDS
GMO foods
Global warming
Animal experimentation
Tuner vs. muscle cars
Language learning challenges
Steriod use in professional sport
How do you handle difficult conversations?
A summary/response paper about one of the essays in the Weber Writes book
PAST ASSIGNMENTS:
1- By now, you should have a grade for your first essay. Tell me if you still don't know. I will be in my office this hour and next if you need to see me: EH 257.
2- The next argumentative essay will be due on November 1. You can choose the topic. It should be final draft quality, double-spaced, two pages, 12 pt font size, MLA format, at least two documented sources in your Works Cited page. Remember you can use anything you've already written in class as the topic for the second paper. Also, if you'd like, you can write a summary/response paper about any of the essays in our book.
3- Today (Mon, Oct 14) choose an essay from Weber Writes and write a two-paragraph summary/response paper in the following way:
a- In the first paragraph, summarize part of the essay. Make sure you identify which author you read.
b- In the second paragraph, write your own response in one of the following ways:
*I agree/disagree because ...*I had a similar experience in my life/country/culture when_...*This part was most interesting/surprising/important because
_...
*OR [Respond in your own way to the essay]
Post or hand in your paper today or by this Wednesday's class.
LONG TERM SEMESTER ASSIGNMENTS:
1) You will attend class and complete in-class and wikispaces writing practices and posts or emails each week (1/3 of your grade)
2) You will complete two 2-3 page argumentative essays by the following Fridays: Oct. 4, NOV. 1. Your third paper will be 5-7 pages and will be due on Nov. 22 (1/3 of your grade)
3) You will complete an online portfolio of the best work you do throughout the semester by Monday, Dec. 2 (1/3 of your grade)